Pecho Energy Storage Center

The Pecho Energy Storage Center (PESC) would be located at 2284 Adobe Road, San Luis Obispo County. PESC would be developed by Pecho LD Energy Storage, LLC, a joint venture of Hydrostor, Inc. and Meridiam Infrastructure Partners.

PESC would be a nominal 400-megawatt (MW), 3,200 MW-hour (MWh), advanced compressed air energy storage (A-CAES) facility capable of flexibly charging and discharging daily as well as on a real time basis. PESC would compress air into a purpose-built underground cavern, using electricity from the grid, most likely off-peak, excess, or surplus electricity. The heat from the air compression process would be captured and stored in an aboveground thermal storage system. The compressed air then would  be stored in the cavern under the pressure of a hydrostatic head created by an onsite, aboveground water reservoir.  When electricity would be needed by the grid, the compressed air would be released using the assistance of the hydrostatic head pressure, reheated using the stored thermal energy, and directed through aboveground turbine-generators to produce electricity. PESC would provide fossil fuel-free and greenhouse gas emissions-free electricity.

PESC’s major equipment would include:  four all-electric air compressor trains, four 100-MW air-driven power turbine generators, heat exchangers, thermal heat storage, an underground compressed air storage cavern, an aboveground water reservoir, auxiliary facilities, and a 3.4-mile electrical interconnection to the existing Morro Bay Switching Station.